Swimming pool cover and shade



Oct. 3, 1961 .1. 1'. PRUDEK 3,002,195

SWIMMING POOL COVER AND SHADE Filed Nov. 28, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. JACK 7 PRUDEK Z TWrW ATTORNEYS Oct. 3, 1961 J. T. PRUDEK SWIMMING POOL COVER AND SHADE Filed Nov. 28, 1958 2 t a e h s s e e h S 3 INVENTOR. JA 6 K 7.' PRU DE K 06L 1961 J. T. PRUDEK 3,

SWIMMING POOL COVER AND SHADE Filed NOV. 28, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 W, 2 if ll] II 1 INVENTOR. JACK 7: PRUDEK y kw TTORNEYS waif 3,002,195 a 1 :IGPOL COVER AND SHADE Jack T. Prudek, 5538 Crescent, Fresno, Calif. Filed Nov. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 776,950 4 Claims. (Cl. 4-172) water for control of bacterial growth and to aid in the prevention of freezing in cold weather.

It is common practice to build a so-called lanai or open front shade structure along one side of swimming pools to protect swimmers and spectators from the direct rays of the sun in warm weather or from wind, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure that will serve through simple adjustment as such a lanai while the pool is in use-and as a cover for the pool when it is not in use. I

A further object of the invention is to provide alight weight structure of hinged panels and means for moving the panels from a fiat position over a pool to an erect position where they form a wall and roof beside the pool.

A further object of the invention is to provide means to adjust a structure of the kind described quickly and easily so that it may be completely moved from one functional position to the other by a single person in a matter of moments.

Further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention are made apparent in the following specification wherein it is described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective schematic view illustrating a pool cover constructed in accordance with the present invention in its upright position to serve as a shade beside a pool;

FIG. 2 is a similar view illustrating the cover after it has been lowered to the deck'surroundi-ng the pool;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the cover after it has been drawn to a position overlying the pool;

FIG. 4 is a similar schematic view showing the cover in its upright position as viewed from the rear;

FIG. 5 is a view in end elevation of the cover;-

FIG. 6 is a central vertical sectional view of the cover in its upright position;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view in end elevation showing the cover in a partially lowered position and also illustrating it in broken lines as more fully lowered;

FIG. 8 is a central sectional view of the cover after it has been drawn over the pool;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the cover in the same position as FIG. 8, the section being taken at the position of one of the forward supports; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating a modification of the invention.

For a general understanding of the manner in which the pool cover of the present invention serves alternately as a pool side shade or lanai or as a pool cover, reference is first made to FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, wherein a pool with a surrounding deck of concrete or the like is shown at It and the pool cover is shown as in FIGS. 1 and 4 as having a back wall 11 and a top panel 12. The wall 11 and panel 12 are both panel-like members made up of a main frame of channels of aluminum or atented Get. 3, 1961 other light-weight material suitably braced and covered with paneling, such for example as corrugated aluminum roofing material. The structural details of these panels is, however, subject to the choice of the builder'and since it does not form a part of the present invention, the panel parts are not illustrated or described in detail herein.

Directly behind the wall panel 11 when it is in its vertical position are a plurality, herein shown as 3 in number, of rigid posts securely anchored in the concrete deck surrounding the pool. One of the endmost posts shown at 13 supports a winch 14 which controls cables for raising and lowering the cover as between the positions illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The central post shown at 15 supports a winch 16 controlling a cable which draws the cover from its lowered position shown in FIG. 2 to its pool covering position illustrated in FIG. 3. In its upright position, the forward end of the roof panel 12 is supported adjacent its forward edge by vertical posts 17 which, as shown in FIG. 5, are made of two telescoping parts, the outer or main part '17 being pivoted as at 18 to the roof panel 12 and the inner telescoping part 19 being pivoted as at 20 to a bracket 21 securely fixed to the deck adjacent the edge of the pool, the position of which is indicated at 22 in FIG. 5. The panels 11 and 12 are shown as hingedly connected at their meeting edges by hinges, one of which is illustrated at 23 and'the end member of the wall panel 11 is of box-like construction having a telescoping insert illustrated in dotted lines at 24 which is pivotally connected as by a pin 25 extending through a bracket 26 welded or otherwise suitably secured to the face of the post 13 and this construction is duplicated at the opposite end of the pool.

The winch 14 carries two" cables, 'one of which extends upwardly as shown at 26 in FIG. 5 over a sheave 27 at the top of the post 13 and is connected at its end by a hook 28 to a suitable eye on the top of the roof panel 12. The other cable which is best shown at 29 in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 extends horizontally across the back of the posts 13 and 15' and is trained upwardly over suitable sheaves at the opposite end post 13 to be secured to the opposite end of the roof panel in an identical manner.

With the construction so far described, spooling out of cables 26 and 29 by rotation of the winch 14 permits the pool cover to descend by gravity through the position illustrated in FIG. 7 and eventually down through the broken line posit-ion until it is flat upon the pool deck but only partially extended toward its covering position.

The forward edge of the roof panel 12 is provided with a caster illustrated at 30 at each end and these casters project downwardly from the underside of the panel sufficiently to support it a very short distance, say one-half inch or less above the pool deck, and to enable it to be easily moved across the deck. Similar casters are provided at opposite edges of the panel. as illustrated at 31, and casters 32 as shown in FIGS. 6, 8 and 9 are provided on the lower rear edge of the wall panel 11. The centers of the casters 32 are coaxial with the pivot pin 25 at the ends of the wall panel 11 so that these casters serve as pivot points about which the wall panel 11 swings toward its downward position, and thereafter act, as the other casters described, to facilitate movement of the cover over the pool deck.

The manner in which the cover is moved from its initial lowered position to its extended position where it covers the pool as in FIG. 3, is best illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 8 wherein the winch 16 on the central post 15 is illustrated as controlling a cable 34 extending is downwardly andguided by suitable sheaves 35 and 36 through a tubular conduitvffl underlying the pool deck and terminating in a hook"38 normally concealed in a recess.which contains-1thesheave36 at the-.-pool edge. .The recess: may be covered 1 with a small metal plate or l-the like (not shown) when the coveris in its upright POSllZlOIl.

Beforethe cover is. lowered, the. cable 3M; is withdrawn from the-winch -16aandits hook is engaged with an eye 39 at thecentral portion of the lower front edge of the wall panel 11. Thus after the coverhas been lowered to the position of FIG. 2, actuation of the winch 16 will draw it outwardly until it attains the position illustrated in FIG. -8. 'In this position, the

tions, it is desirable to withdraw the pivot pins 25 at the ends of the wall panel 11 and slide the telescoping members 24 into the end frame members of the panel leaving a clear deck surrounding the cover. It is also desirable that the cables 26 and 29 be disengaged at their extremities from the roof panel 12 and rewound upon the winch 14 until they assume out-of-the-way positions.

Restoring the cover to its erect position is accomplished by-simply attaching the cables 26 and 29- and actuating the -winch 14, first to pull the cover back from the pool to the position of FIG. 2 and then to'raise it to the position of FIG. 1. After it is raised, the cable 34 is-released and rewound to its original position.

It is found that pools up to fourteen or sixteen feet wide may be covered in a satisfactory manner with a structure of thekind herein described which is sufi'iciently light to be actuated easily without power yet has suflicient strength to support the weight of a man walking across the cover in its lowered position. Suitable power means may be supplied to the winches 14 and 16 for larger pools but it is also possible to cover larger pools with light weight structures by variations in design. Onesuch variation is illustrated for example in FIG. 10 wherein a cover such as that herein described is schematically illustrated at 42 and a similar cover having a roof but .no back wall is illustrated at 43 as supported on hinged-and telescoping legs 44 enabling it to be lowered over one side ofa wide pool thati-s not completely covered by the structure shown at- 42. It is, of course, possibleto duplicate the structure of the present application on both sides of a pool if it is very wide. Other combinations of thestructures embodying the present invention will readily suggest themselves.

In actual-operation,.theraising or lowering of the cover on an average sized;..private pool can be accomplished even by a child in a very few minutes and it has been shown that the cost of such a cover in rustprooftdurable material" fully installed is in most cases less than the cost of erecting a satisfactory vfence surrounding-agarden area-in which the pool is installed and which, in somevicinities, is required by law as a safety measure.

I claim:

1. A combination'upool cover and pool-side shade comprising two panels, a hinged connection between one of said panels and a deck beside the pool whereby said one:panel may stand :as :a'w all spaced from an edge of the pool, a hinged connection between the upper edge of said one panel when standing and an edge of the second panel whereby: the second panel may extend as a roof towardthepool, substantially vertical telescoping members pivoted to the deck beside the pool andto the roof panel adjacent the edge nearest the pool,

means to lower the-panels .toa coplanar position on the pool deck wherebysaid telescoping members will be substantially parallel to the deck, and means to move the lowered panels .toa pool covering position with said telescoping members in extended condition.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the telescoping members spanthepool when the panels are lowered to form beam-s: supporting the panels.

3. The structure defined incla-im 1 in which the means to lower the panel comprises upstanding support means behind the wall panel, and winch means fixed with relation to the support and controlling a cable which passes over the support and is anchored to the roof panel.

4. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the means to move the lowered panels to a pool covering position comprises, a Winch fixed with relation to the deck behind the wall panel, ,a sheave adjacent the pool edge, a cable controlled by said winch leading under the deck and over said sheave, and means .to connect the free end of said cable to said wall panel before it is lowered.

References Cited-inthe fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,753,828 Mege July 10, 1956 2,788,849 ..Lingard Apr. 16, 1957 2,838,767 Matlock June 17, 1958 2,912,703 ;Mu-rphy. NOV. 17, 1959 2,924,829 Mosier Feb. 16, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 631,003 Great; Britain Oct. 25, 1949 

